The killings came in the first days of an uprising against Burmese forces, who are also accused of atrocities.

Since August nearly 700,000 Rohingyas and others have fled the violence.

The conflict has also displaced members of the majority Buddhist population in Myanmar (also called Burma) as well as members of the Hindu minority.

Amnesty says interviews it conducted with refugees in Bangladesh and in Rakhine state confirmed that mass killings carried out by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa) took place in a cluster of villages in northern Maungdaw Township at the time of its attacks on police posts in late August.

The findings also show Arsa was responsible for violence against civilians, on a smaller scale, in other areas.

The report details how Arsa members on 26 August attacked the Hindu village of Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik.

"In this brutal and senseless act, members of Arsa captured scores of Hindu women, men and children and terrorised them before slaughtering them outside their own villages," the report said.

Hindu survivors told Amnesty they either saw relatives being killed or heard their screams.

One woman from the village of Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik said: "They slaughtered the men. We were told not to look at them … They had knives. They also had some spades and iron rods. … We hid ourselves in the shrubs there and were able to see a little … My uncle, my father, my brother - they were all slaughtered."

Arsa fighters are accused of killing 20 men, 10 women, and 23 children, 14 of whom were under the age of eight.

Amnesty said the bodies of 45 people from the village were unearthed in four mass graves in late September. The remains of the other victims, as well as 46 from the neighbouring village of Ye Bauk Kyar, have not been found.

The investigation suggests that a massacre of Hindu men, women, and children in Ye Bauk Kyar happened on the same day, bringing the estimated total number of dead to 99.

Why scepticism over a mass grave?

Jonathan Head, BBC News, Bangkok

Last September, as international alarm was growing over the scale of the Rohingya exodus to Bangladesh, and over the horrific accounts of atrocities by the Myanmar security forces, the government in Nay Pyi Taw announced that it had discovered a mass grave.

But the victims were not Muslims - they were Hindus, killed, said the government, by militants from Arsa.

Journalists were taken to the site to see the grave and the bodies. However the government's continued refusal to allow independent human rights researchers into Rakhine left lingering doubts about exactly what happened in the village of Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik, and a neighbouring village, Ye Bauk Kyar.

The fact that the Myanmar government refused to acknowledge any serious abuses by its forces, in the face of huge amounts of testimony, undermined its credibility further.

At the time Arsa denied any involvement in this massacre - the group has made no public statements for four months. Myanmar has complained of one-sided reporting of the conflict in Rakhine, but many foreign media, including the BBC, did report the killing of Hindus back in September.

The human rights group says its findings are based "on dozens of interviews conducted there [in Rakhine] and across the border in Bangladesh, as well as photographic evidence analyzed by forensic pathologists".

Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionNearly 700,000 Rohingya, many of them women and children, have fled to Bangladesh since August

"It's hard to ignore the sheer brutality of Arsa's actions, which have left an indelible impression on the survivors we've spoken to. Accountability for these atrocities is every bit as crucial as it is for the crimes against humanity carried out by Myanmar's security forces in northern Rakhine State."

Arsa has denied such accusations in the past, saying that claims of its militants killing villagers were "lies".

The Rohingya - a stateless mostly Muslim minority - are widely despised in Myanmar, where they are considered to be illegal migrants from Bangladesh, despite the fact that some have been in Myanmar for generations.

Rohingya militants massacred Hindu villagers during last year's uprising in Myanmar's Rakhine, Amnesty International said Wednesday in a report that sheds fresh light on the complex ethnic rivalries in the state. The killings took place on August 25, 2017, the report said, the same day that the Rohingya insurgents staged coordinated deadly raids on police posts that tipped the state into crisis. Myanmar's military responded to the insurgent raids with harsh reprisals that forced some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims out of the mainly Buddhist country where they have faced persecution for years.
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Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Bought Some Alphonso Mangoes at Little India: 4 for 8 Dollars

Out with my uncle and aunties and we were excited to spot Alphonso Mangoes. It was lovely to see so many boxes of mangoes in one place. These were wholesale ones going for S$2 each. I tried them and they were fragrant and flavourful.

Alphonso mangoes are from Ratnagiri which is in the Western part of India. It’s a port city on the Arabian sea coast and I’ve yet to travel there.

My mum still thinks them a tad expensive and my aunt was recommending Benishan ones instead. But you can find these at 77 Syed Alwi Road. Perhaps I’ll try Benishan Mangoes one day tell you how they taste compared to these. My favourite mangoes include the green Indonesian ones called Harum Manis and the ones that used to be imported from The Philippines when I was a little kid.

The store next door this to one was selling mangoes too. These little shops are located just across from Mustafa. A reason I love exploring the little lanes in Serangoon Road. Filled with gems like this.

I sliced and tried the mangoes today and they were so yummy. Very strong flavour and quite unique.

The Dependants’ Protection Scheme (DPS) is a term insurance that provides insured members and their families with some money to get through the first few years should the insured members pass away, suffer from Terminal Illness or Total Permanent Disability.​

Understand

DPS is an opt-out term insurance scheme which is automatically extended to eligible CPF members.

DPS covers insured members for a maximum sum assured of $46,000 up to 60 years old. The DPS benefit will be paid out to insured members and their families should the insured members pass away or suffer from Terminal Illness or Total Permanent Disability.

Evaluate

Yes, the eligibility for a DPS cover is subject to you being in good health.

As with any life insurance, DPS cover may be deferred or declined if a member has any serious pre-existing illnesses. This is to ensure that the scheme remains viable and the premiums are kept affordable for all insured members.​​​

The DPS insurers will consider your eligibility after assessing your medical condition. You can refer to your health declaration form or refer to Great Eastern Life and NTUC Income​ for more information.

A DPS claim can be made when the insured member

is certified by a doctor as suffering from terminal illness or total permanent disability; or

passes away.​​

​The DPS bene​fit will not be payable if any of the following events occur within the first policy year: ​​​(a) you committed self-inflicted injury or suicide; (b) you committed a criminal offence punishable by death; or (c) claim arose out of your own intentional criminal act.​​

DPS benefits are also not payable if:​

​(d) you suffer from serious illness, Terminal Illness or Total Permanent Disability before the commencement of the cover; (e) you have provided false or misleading information; or (f) your claim arose from wars or any warlike operations or participation in any riot.

You can contact your DPS insurer for more information. Please note that your CPF nomination does not apply to the distribution of DPS claim benefit.

Decide

You can check the status of your coverage and your insurer by:

logging in to the CPF website with your SingPass and view under My Messages; or

checking your yearly CPF Statement of Account.

It depends on your age at your last birthday. The yearly premium for a maximum sum assured of $46,000 is as follows:

Age (Last Birthday)

Yearly Premium

34 years and below

$36

35 – 39 years

$48

40 – 44 years

$84

45 – 49 years

$144

50 – 54 years

$228

55 – 59 years

$260

Premium can be paid using your CPF savings or cash.

If you are using your CPF savings for the premium, the premium will first be deducted from your Ordinary Account (OA). If you do not have sufficient savings in your OA, the premiums will be deducted from your Special Account (SA).

If you do not have sufficient savings in both accounts, you can pay using cash to your insurer. You can contact your DPS insurer if you wish to pay using cash.

The coverage will continue as long as you pay the yearly premium. Each yearly premium payment covers you for one policy year which is 12 months from the date of commencement/renewal of your DPS.

If you wish to be covered under DPS again, you need to apply for it with your preferred insurer (i.e. Great Eastern Life or NTUC Income). Please note that your application will be assessed based on your health condition then.